Russia has threatened Apple with a fine in the billions over its search engine and Russian apps

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service has filed an official complaint against Apple, alleging discrimination against Russian app developers. If the company fails to comply with the requirements, it faces a fine of up to 4 billion rubles.

The agency claims that a foreign search engine is set as the default on iPhones and iPads, while users must manually change the settings to switch to Russian alternatives. According to the FAS, this puts local developers at a disadvantage.

In addition, the regulator accused Apple of failing to comply with requirements to pre-install Russian software on devices running the iOS operating system. Specifically, this refers to the “Max” messenger and the Russian app store. The company has been given until July 15 to remedy the violations; otherwise, antitrust proceedings could be initiated against it, potentially resulting in a significant financial fine.

This was reported by Russian propaganda media outlets.

The Kremlin is threatening to cut ties with Apple over the blocking of VKontakte.

Apple has removed a number of apps from the Russian holding company VK from the App Store, including VKontakte, Mail.ru, VK Video, VK Music, VK Messenger, Zen, and Odnoklassniki.

The Russian messaging app Max has disappeared from the international section of the Huawei AppGallery.